WASHINGTON, DC – 5 October 2015 – In a major victory for public health, negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement concluded this morning with built-in protections to prevent private corporations from suing governments over anti-tobacco regulations.

The victory comes after years of pressure from a vast coalition of health groups and pro-health legislators, including Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), to protect the right of governments to regulate tobacco without fear of expensive lawsuits.

"We would have preferred a blanket exemption for tobacco in the Agreement, denying increased rights for the tobacco industry across the board," said Laurent Huber, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health, and Director of FCA. "However, investor-state dispute settlements provisions were the most worrisome aspect of the TPP, and now the tobacco industry cannot use them to block or delay life-saving measures."